Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inventory management and more particularly to retail management of re-order points in a smartphone.
Description of the Related Art
Inventory management refers to the determination of a requisite level of inventory to maintain in a business organization so as to achieve the business goals of the organization such as a manufacturing goal or a sales goal. Traditional inventory management begins with simple record keeping recording a number of units of each product in inventory, a cost of acquiring the units and a time period during which the units have remained in inventory. More advanced inventory management includes an indication of a location in a physical space in which the units are stored. Elemental to any inventory management scheme is the determination of when a supply of units of inventory are likely to become exhausted so as to require the re-ordering of additional units to avoid a condition where the required number of units of inventory are not present in inventory. This determination is known as a reorder point.
The reorder point more specifically is the level of inventory that triggers an action to replenish particular inventory stock. The reorder point normally is calculated as the forecast usage of inventory stock during a period of time associated with the lead time to replenish the inventory stock in addition to the requirement of a certain presence of “safety stock”. Assuming that there is no time lag between the ordering and the procuring of required inventory stock, the reorder point for replenishing inventory stock occurs at a level when the level of inventory stock drops to zero. Therefore, a reorder point is a technique to determine when to order—not how much to order.
Plainly, the notion of a reorder point is limited to inventory management in a commercial setting. However, as a practical matter, reorder points exist in the daily lives of private citizens. To wit, every household inherently is aware of a point in time when a replenishment of groceries is required—especially in the case of perishables such as milk or eggs. Even in connection with non-perishable goods such as light bulbs, garbage bags, gasoline or laundry detergent, most households innately known when it is time to seek a replenishment of a product. Yet, while the individual can trust one's instincts to simply known when to reorder product in respect to core goods, for some products, it is less clear when it is time to order more.
Internet retailers recognize the ease in which consumers often fail to recognize a reorder point for personal items. To address this problem, many Internet retailers maintain records of the purchasing patterns of individual customers and push e-mail notices to those customers when it is determined that “it is time” for the customers to reorder product. Common examples include purveyors of water filters for one's refrigerator, or air filters for one's car. Even automotive dealers, dentists and veterinarians push messages to their respective customers when the records of these different vendors indicate a reorder point for the customers. However, in all such circumstances, the customer benefits from the reorder point management of the vendor only in respect to the product or service offered by the particular vendor.